Territory



(No Model.) l 3 Sheets-Sheet 1. G. O. DICKINSON.

GONGBNTRATING AND AMALGAMATING MACHINE) l No. 406,635. j 'Patented July9, 1889.\

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-GONGENTRATING AND AMALGAMATING MACHINE.

No. 406,635. Patented July 9, 1889.

(No Model.) 3 sheetssheet 3.

G. o. DIOKINSON. GONGBNTBATING AND AM'ALGAMATING MAGHINB.

No. 466,635. Patented July 9*, 1889.

gz l 0:9@000 WITNESSES: q

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UNITED l,STAT-Es PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE O. DIcKINsON, OF sTOcKTON, UTAI-I TERRITORY]A CONCENTRATING ANDAMALGAMATING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 406,635, dated July 9,1889.

Application filed May 28,1887. Renewed May 28, 1889. Serial No. 312,354.(No model.)

provements in Concentrating and Amalgamating Machines, of which thefollowing is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in that class of machines employedfor separating gold, silver, lead, and other metals from sand, eartlhandsimilar substances contain- .ing such metals, and also amalgamating themetals thusseparated.

My invention will be fully describedhereinafter, and its novel featurescarefully deiined in the claims. i l

In the drawings which serve to illustrate my invention, Figure l is aplan or top view of a machine embodying my improvements, and Fig. 2 is asectional elevation of the same as seen from arrow a in Fig. 1. Theseviews are on a small scale and show the entire machine. Fig. 3 is a sideview, and Fig. 4 is a plan on a much larger scale than Figs. 1 and 2,showing only a part of the machinenamely, the pan, its spring, and itssupports.

inner ends of the pans.

Figs. 5 and 6 are respectively a side view and a plan of one of thefriction-rollers and its frame. Figs. 7 and 8 are respectively afragmentary plan and a fragmentary sectional view of the mechanism forlifting the Fig. 9 is a sectional detail of the buifers and spring.

1 is the main frame, here shown as in the form of a cross in plan.

2 is the upright shaft arranged vertically in the center of the frame.This shaft is` tubular at its upper part, as best seen in Figs. 2 and 8.

3 is the supporting-table or spider mounted on shaft 2 and supported bystays 4 4. Y

5 is a horizontal ring-like bevel-wheel on the lower face of spider G isa pinion on the driving-shaft 7, said pinion meshing with wheel 5, and 8are the pulleys on shaft 7 to receive the. driving-belt. (Not shown.)

9 9 are the concentrating and amalgamating` pans. These pans are ofsector-like form, and when assembled serve to substantially complete thecircle. Each pan is free to move within limits radially, or in and outtoward or from the axis of the machine independently of the others.

The pan has a shoe j l0 on its under side near its inner end, and

this shoe plays in a slotted or grooved guide or keeper l1 on the spider3. Atits outer wider end it has two similar shoes 10 which ride or playover bearing-rollers 12 in guides 13 on the spider. bearing-rollers areindicated in dotted lines in Figs. 3 and 4.

Referring especiallj7 to Fig. 9,14 is a buffer on the bottom of pan 9,and 14 is a buiferon the spider 3.

15 is a spring bar or rod coupled at one end to shoe 10t This rod passesthrough vapertures or slits in the buffers, and has embracing it aspring 16, forming a retractor The positions of these for the pam,arranged between an adjustable spider.

On the outer face of each pan 91s a cam 18, which when the pans arecarried around comes in contact, successively, with rollers 19, (seendetached in Figs. 5 and 6,) mounted adjustably in the frame 1, as seenin Fig. 2. These rollers, by their action on the inclined face of thecam, serve to press or push the pan in toward the axis of the machine.cams and roller form pushers, and when the cam passes the roller thespring 16-suddenly retracts the pan, or moves it outward again until thebuffer on the pan strikes that on the spider. Thus when the p'ans arebeing rotated they have imparted to them a radial reciprocatingmovement, together with repeated jars or jolts as the buffers cometogether.

I will now describe the'mechanism, which I denominate a lifter, forsimultaneously Thus the raising or lowering the inner ends of the IOOmachine-frame. Thus rod 20 is prevented from rotating, while cross-piece21 is carried around with shaft 2. The upper end of rod 2O has ascrew-thread 20', on which screws a initer-wheel nut 25, which mesheswith a miter-w-heel 25 on a shaft 26, rotatively mounted on frame 1 andprovided with a crank 27. By means of this crank and the intermediatemechanism the cross-piece 21 may be raised and lowered at will. In Figs.7 and 8 I have shown a notched wheel 28 on the shaft 26 and a pivoteddog 23 on the frame, whereby said shaft 26 may be locked againstrotation; but this device is not absolutely es sential and is not shownin Figs. 1 and 2. Oil the shaft 2 is a sliding sleeve 29, the lower endof which rests on cross-piece 21, and this sleeve is furnished with arms30, one for each pan. From the end of each arm 30 depends a pair oflinks or rods 31, the ends of which are coupled to the sides of twoadjacent pans by a pin 32. There may be a number of pinholes in thesides of the pans, as shown, so that the coupling can be effected atdifferent points. It will be obvious that when crank 27 is turned andcross-piece 21 is raised the inner ends of the pans will be raisedcorrespondingly.

There are two pipes 33 33 to feed the pans with the ore or mineral, andtwo water-pipes 34 34 to feed water to the pans for washing, the saidfeed and water pipes being arranged in alternate order, as indicated inFig. 1. Under the curved portions of the pipes, where they extend overtwo adjacent pans, are arranged A-shaped shields 35, which bridge thespaces between the pans and deflect into the pans the Water andV mineralthat would otherwise fall between them. Each of these shields isattached to only one of the pans.

. Qn the inner end of each pan 9 is a tailing spout or chute 36, fromwhich the tailings descend into the tailing-pan 37, which has anoutlet-spout 37. On the shaft 2, at the mouth of the tailing-pan, is adeflectorSS to prevent the tailings from falling into the space aroundtheshaft.

I will now describe the operation ofthe machine. Whenv the shaft 2 isset rotating ythrough the medium of the shaft 7 and gears .5 and 6, thepans 9 are carried around with it. The cams 1S on the pans act onrollers 19 on the frame to push the pans in toward the axis of themachine, and the springs 16 act to throw them out suddenly', the buffersstopping them quickly, so as to produce percussion and jar.

The wat-er and mineral are fed into the pans through pipes 33and 34, andthejarring motion in connection with the centrifugal force generated byrotation tends to draw or drive the heavier precious metal toward theouter ends ofthe pans, while the worthless material, in suspension,flows off at the tailing-chutes 36 at the inner ends of the pans. `Themechanism for manipulating' the inner ends `of the pans enables the sameto be raised or lowered in order to properly regulate the discharge ofthe tailings. It will be observed that the inner en dof the pan mayberaised considerably and sufficiently without disengaging the shoe 10from its keeper 11, which latter is quite deep. Then asuflicientquantity of the precious metal has accumulated at the outerends of the pans, the machine may be stopped and the accumulationremoved with shovels, &c. I/Vhen the precious metal is of such acharacter or in such a condition as to permit it, the inner ends of thepans can be raised and mercury poured into the ou ter ends of the pansto effect the amalgamation of the metal in the pans. The shaking andjarring motion of the pans will serve to bring the mercury into contactwith all the particles 0f the metal to be amalgamated and willacceleratematerially the process of amalgamation.

In working some sands containing gold I have found it advantageous tocover the bottom of the pans with amalgamated copper plates and to placemercury on said plates, for the purpose above described.

The feed and water pipes 33 and 3l are mounted to slide in theirbearings on the frame l, (see Fig. 2,) so that their delivery ends canbe set in or out, and thus deliver at different points in the pans toadapt the machine for the treatment of different materials. Thefeed-pipes have their curved lower ends perforated to distribute thebetter in delivering. In some cases I find it desirable to dispense withthe water-feed, and in this case I feed the material from a hopperintothe pans and use an air-blast to assist in separating the valuable fromthe waste material, the airblast being so placed as to produce the sameeffect as the water-feed.

The tension of springs 16 may be regulated by nuts on rods 15 back ofcollars 17 in awellknown way,l and the amount of throw of cams 18 may beregulated by means of nuts on the shanks of the frames which carryrollers 19. The construction of these roller-frames is Well illustratedin Figs. 2, 5, and 6.

I do not wish to limit myself to the particular construction of all theparts, as herein shown, as these may be changed somewhat withoutmaterially -departing from my invention-as, for instance, the cams 18might be mounted on the frame and the anti-frictional rollers 19 on thepans. This would produce the same effect as the construction shown. Onthe other hand I do not wish to be understood as claiming, broadly, theuse of cams, Springs, and buffers for reciprocating and Vj arring anamalgamating-pan, as such have before been used, but not in the manneremployed by me. Concentrating-pans provided with vibrating mechanismhave also been provided with means by which the end of the pan may beraised and lowered. My pans, however, are arranged around and carried bya vertical revolving shaft, and are provided IOO IIO

with a lifter that acts simultaneously on all of the pans, and isconstructedin such a manner that the ends of all thepans may be raisedor lowered to a like extent While the pans are being carried around.This is the limitn g characteristic of this part of my invention.

Having thus described my invention, I claim- 1. The combination,with avertical shaft provided With a support for the pans, of the said panshaving the form of sectors,whereby they form a circle When assembled,and each pan provided with sliding bearings on its support, andmechanism comprising a cam, a Vcamroller, buffers, and spring forimparting to each pan a radial sliding and jarring movement as it iscarried around by the shaft.

2. The combinatiomwith avertical shaft 2, provided with a suitablesupport 3 for the pans, said support having buffers 14C', of themechanism for vilnpartin g rotation to said shaft, the pans 9 9, eachprovided with shoes 10 10'., a buffer 14, a cam 18, a spring-rod 15,

V and a spring 16, and the rollers 19 on the machine-frame, arranged tostrike said cams on the pans.

3. The combination, with the tubular slotrollers as the shaft revolves7and the springs that return or retract the pans, substantially as andfor the purposes set forth.

5. The combination,with the independentlymoving pans arranged around theshaft, of the said shaft, the feed-pipes arranged over the pans, and thedeli'ecting-shields 35, ar-

ranged over the spaces between the pans under said feed-pipes, and meansfor operating said pans, substantially as set forth.

6. The combination, with the pans and hol- 10W shaft 2, of the mechanismfor simultaney ously lifting the inner ends of said pans, consisting ofthe non-rotative lifting-rod 2O in said hollow shaft 2, cross-piece 21,rotatively mounted on the rod 20, sleeve 29 and its arms, couplinglinks3l, nut 25, and mechanism for rotating said nut.

In witness whereof I have hereunto signed my name in the presence of twosubscribing Witnesses.

GEORGE O. DICKINSON.

Witnesses: f

WILLIAM E. J AcoBs, PHiLIP BRIGes.

